The African Development Bank (AfDB) president, Akinwumi Adesina, has identified youth unemployment and poverty as the factors driving insecurity and migration on the continent, stressing that the future of Nigerian and other African youths does not lie in Europe and America.

Mr Adesina, in a statement issued by the bank on Friday, said this at a Diplomatic Luncheon he hosted for Ambassadors in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

“Youth unemployment and poverty are among the factors that drive insecurity as well as migration. The AfDB is tackling this issue through its ‘Jobs for Youth in Africa’ strategy. I do not believe that the future of Africa’s youth lies in Europe, USA, Latin America, Asia, or anywhere else in the world.

“Their future must lie in an Africa that is growing well, with inclusive growth, and able to deliver quality jobs and livelihoods for its youth,” Mr Adesina said.

According to him, Africa’s demographic asset, with 477 million youths under 35, should not become a global externality.

He said the bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa strategy aimed to create 25 million jobs and provide skills for 50 million young people.

“I am delighted that the Independent Development Evaluation Department of AfDB found that the bank’s work has created 12 million jobs already, three million directly and nine million indirectly.

“The bank is implementing several initiatives to expand economic opportunities and skills enhancement for the youths. This includes technical and vocational training, computer coding for employment, as well as the ‘Enable Youth’ programme in agriculture to develop entrepreneurs in food and agriculture,” he said.

Mr Adesina said AfDB’s ‘Enable Youth’ programme, with financing of $490 million, had already developed 41,000 youth entrepreneurs in agriculture and created over 63,000 direct jobs.

He said: “Our coding for employment programme now operates in four countries and is establishing 130 coding centres of excellence across the continent to expand digital skills for the youth.

“Our Affirmative Finance Action for Women, with the goal of mobilising $5 billion for women’s businesses, is showing huge success. By the end of last year, $1.5 billion in loans had been approved to women entrepreneurs.”

According to Mr Adesina, one key area of the bank’s work is to improve the lives and livelihoods of the people of Africa. He said to address the health infrastructure deficits on the continent, the board of directors of the AfDB also approved the bank’s strategy for quality health infrastructure.

He said the bank would provide $3 billion to finance health infrastructure on the continent over the next 10 years.

(NAN)